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Speaking shortly before the unveiling the veteran, who flew many missions as a wireless operator, said: “When the memorial is revealed I will think of the pilot and the rear gunner of my first crew who are both buried in Germany. They were among thousands of young men who died. There has been nothing to salute them.”

Douglas Radcliffe, who lived in London his entire life, first joined the RAF a month before his 18th birthday.

Prior to this he had been a messenger boy at the BBC but when Broadcasting House was bombed during the Blitz in October 1940 and Radcliffe saw seven bodies being brought out of the music library he decided to join up.

After being trained as a wireless operator and put on a gunnery course, Radcliffe was sent to North Africa in 1943 to replenish depleted squadrons there.

Hero pilots from the Battle of Britain

The pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain during World War II.

Hawker Hurricane pilots of 501 Squadron wait for a call to scramble during the Battle of Britain

On the way their plane crashed and he sustained shoulder and back injuries which resulted in a lengthy hospital stay and ultimately saved his life.

By the war’s end the crew’s pilot and rear gunner had both been shot down and killed.

Following the end of the war he worked as a cine-technician for several British film studios. He became secretary of the Bomber Command Association in 1985, a role he continued to fulfil until earlier this year when he was made president. He is survived by a son and daughter.